“God’s Love Gives Another Chance”
Jonah 2:1-10
www.WORDFORLIFESAYS.com
Please Note: All lesson verses and titles are based on
International Sunday School Lesson/Uniform Series ©2013 by
the Lesson Committee, but all content/commentary written
within is original to wordforlifesays.com unless properly
quoted/cited. As always you are encouraged to do your own
studies as well. Blessings!)
Introduction:
The whole Bible is riddled with stories pertaining to mankind,
his choices, and how they play out in their lives and in their
relationship with God. In those choices, some wrongs are made
and consequences are felt. Once the hardness of the
consequences set in it causes one to be more reflective of their
life and what got them on the path they are currently walking.
In a previous article, I wrote:
“Hindsight is a kicker. I’ve heard it said before that
hindsight offers perfect 20/20 vision. I don’t remember
where I heard or saw that phrase but I could not agree
more. Staring down the road once traveled, seeing it
littered with the trash of mistakes and bad choices changes
one’s perspective.” (Be Wise in the Choices I Make/Word
For Life Says)
Negative results from wrong choices are something all of us
have felt or experienced most likely more than one time in our
lives. But, even in the midst of our mess, for the heart that
turns to Him in true repentance, God shows mercy and
compassion. God stands ready to save and deliver.
There may still be some residual effects from the wrongs and
consequences we have done and felt, but God still offers the
gift of grace; the gift of another chance.
Jonah 2:1-3 “Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of
the fish’s belly, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction
unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried
I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hast cast me into the
deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me
about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.”
Corrie ten Boom, author of The Hiding Place, once wrote,
“There is no pit so deep, that God's love is not deeper still,”
(Quote Source: Goodreads) which covered her and her family’s
experience of helping the Jewish people during the time of the
Holocaust (I believe it is a must read). I am sure that if the
prophet Jonah were alive in her time he would wholeheartedly
agree with her statement. The place where God’s love reached
him was unimaginably horrible. His “pit” is described as the
“belly of hell.” In today’s lesson, he is portrayed to be in “the
fish’s belly.”
It is from this place, the Bible tells us, “Jonah prayed.” The
interesting thing about this chapter opening with those words
is that while the storms that converged on him in chapter 1
were raging, we don’t see this at all. While the threat of being
capsized by the tumultuous seas was going on not once are we
told that Jonah abided by the shipmaster’s plea when he
instructed him to, “Call upon thy God,” (Jonah 1:6). Jonah was
not actively engaging in the spiritual discipline of prayer; even
at that moment he was not trying to connect with God.
Perhaps his heart was still in a runaway mode. But here, in the
worst condition possible, he finally humbles himself before the
Lord.
The Bible teaches us, “If my people, which are called by my
name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face,
and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven,
and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land,” (2 Chronicles
7:14; emphasis mine). And here, we see this playing out for
Jonah. Jonah has “cried” out to God in the midst of his mess
and declares “he heard me.”
The words “heard” and “heardest” read as past tense because
Jonah obviously didn’t pen these words while in the stomach of
the fish. After everything was said and done, sometime after
the fact, these words were probably written. In that dire of
circumstance, swirling around in the midst of the trouble of his
consequences, his prayer did not fall on deaf ears. God is never
so far removed from our circumstances that He can’t be
reached if a heart is truly repentant, humbled, and truly seeking
Him. If God can hear Jonah in the belly of a great fish, He can
hear you wherever you are.
In his prayer, Jonah not only needed God to intervene because
of his “affliction” but he also expressed the truthfulness of his
situation: God’s hand is at work in everything he was now
experiencing. The men of the ship fought furiously to save his
life until they realized they had no choice but to do as Jonah
insisted and cast him into the sea. Their hands did the deed but
it was according to God’s will this was accomplished.
He said, “Thou hadst cast me into the deep . . . thy billows and
thy waves passed over me,” (compare Psalm 42:7 and 88:6).
Over and over again the Bible makes us aware of sin and its
effects on the person or persons who indulge in it. “For the
wages of sin is death . . .” (Romans 6:23) the Bible tells us, and
this is what Jonah felt like as he sank further in the water and as
the waves covered his near dead body, and the dread of his
situation sank deeper in his heart. He should’ve died but he
realizes God showed him mercy and compassion. God heard
his prayers.
Jonah 2:4-6 “Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will
look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed
me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about,
the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the
bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about
me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption,
O LORD my God.”
The words in these verses offer another look at his further
sinking condition. Physically, the “waters compassed me about
. . . the depth closed me round about, the weeds were
wrapped about my head,” he said. Someone may ask, “How
low can you go?” In Jonah’s case, it was pretty low and pretty
bad. Basically, he was drowning and was very much aware he
was drowning and that his life was coming to an end. I can
imagine him in that situation lifting his eyes and seeing nothing
but dark water over him. His arms were probably flailing about
grasping for anything to give hope.
He realized that it was the choices he made that placed him out
of the will of God thus out of His “sight.” The NLT version
expresses the idea of being “cast out of thy sight” as being
“driven . . . from your presence.” Spiritually, he seemed to be
separated from God. There was a great disconnect because of
his disobedience. This, in essence, is the whole sin plight when
one chooses to go outside of the will of God. It causes division
between the beautiful unity one could experience between
God and man, Creator and His creation. Complete dread must
have overwhelmed him as he was thinking back on that horrible
experience and the miracle of being delivered from it.
Jonah’s theme song could’ve been Love Lifted Me for this was,
in essence, his story of restoration. In that song, author James
Rowe writes:
“I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more;
But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry,
From the waters lifted me, now safe am I.
Love lifted me! Love lifted me!
When nothing else could help,
Love lifted me.
Love lifted me! Love lifted me!
When nothing else could help,
Love lifted me.” (Lyrics Source: Hymnary.org)
His experience in that water was more than just being saved
and swallowed by a great fish. His experience was a restoration
experience. It was a time that brought to reality just how good
he had it when he was in right fellowship with God. He literally
almost lost everything.
Although he said, “Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight,”
admitting his own fault to his own condition, he also expressed
a great measure of hope in what seemed to be a hopeless
situation. He went on to say, “Yet I will look again toward thy
holy temple.” The man that spent so much time and energy to
flee God’s presence is now looking forward to experiencing His
presence once more. The “temple” in the Old Testament times
was a symbol of God’s presence amongst His people.
In the midst of all the craziness of his plight, I get the sense of
sweet peace coming over him at the very thought of the beauty
of God and being restored and being able to properly worship
once again where He is. In a place where no such beauty can
be felt, but only a downward spiraling of life into the deepest
depths of the ocean which he describes by saying, “I went
down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her
bars was about me forever;” amongst those despairing words
comes forth this assurance that he would once again get to
enjoy the presence of the Lord, somehow, some way; whether
here or in eternity. He felt that God, in His love for him, had
not totally given up on him. God’s hands were in his
consequences, but he also believed God’s love to be at work in
his time of restoration.
“Thou hast brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my
God.” The same “thou,” that was used to describe Him [God]
that cast him [Jonah] into the sea (vs. 3) is the same “thou” that
was responsible to raising up his “life” once more. God spared
Jonah’s life. He didn’t allow him to see death. These words are
compatible to those expressed by David in Psalm 30:3 when he
said, “O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave:
thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.”
The situation may seem terminal, at a point of no return, but
God is able to deliver and restore again. Jonah’s story isn’t over
yet. Jonah’s story didn’t stop when he hit the water or even in
the belly of the fish. God had more pages to write for his life.
Jonah 2:7 “When my soul fainted within me I remembered the
LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thy holy
temple.”
“I remembered the LORD.” The very God he tried so
desperately to run away from now in his darkest of times he
remembers. When he felt overwhelmed by his choices and
overwhelmed by the sin those choices led to and overwhelmed
by the experience of his sinking plight, it was as a spiritual light
clicked on deep within him and he remembered the LORD. He
remembered His Word. He remembered His promises. He
remembered His love for His people. He remembered His
faithfulness. He remembered His covenant. He remembered
just how great a God he served! When he ran from God he
forgot about all the wonders of God in his selfish pursuit, but
now he remembers.
“My prayer came in unto thee, into thy holy temple.” When
he cried out to God his very cry reached the presence of God.
God was listening. Sincere prayer reaches the ears of God.
Although he had many opportunities to pray prior to being in
the fish, the sincerity of his heart is now more real than ever as
he reaches out to God in prayer.
There’s a glorious truth that God hears, but don’t wait until
your situation is so desperate that you are at the point where
you have no other choice than to pray. God is available with a
listening ear at all times.
Martin Luther is quoted as saying, “To be a Christian without
prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.”
Why is that? Because as breath is with the body, with each
inhale and exhale one’s life is sustained; so is the prayer line
that fosters that interpersonal relationship between God and
man. It is not only life-sustaining, but it is soul-sustaining
keeping that glorious love connection betwixt the two opened
and flowing. And, as Jonah felt his time of the last breath was
drawing nearer he then sought to reconnect with God once
more through prayer and he believed his prayer was heard.
When we call out to God we too can believe that our prayers
are heard if we have a sincere heart.
Jonah 2:8 -9 “They that observe lying vanities forsake their
own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of
thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of
the LORD.”
Futile pursuits often overwhelm a life that could have been well
lived for God. The words “observe lying vanities” are
associated with idol worshiping. Jonah, in his reflective mind,
can surely testify to the uselessness of a life lived after those
false ways. Everything outside of God’s will and God’s ways are
worthless things to go after. To the one who does such, they
“forsake their own mercy;” they abandon the true source of
hope and help. When one forsakes God’s mercy they purposely
turn away from His grace, His help, His compassion, His favor,
and all those wonderful attributes we come to know Him by.
“But I,” Jonah says, “will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of
thanksgiving.” In other words Jonah is saying my heart is
directed to worship God and to praise Him and Him only. To
recognize His sovereignty in my life and to give Him thanks for
all that He has done for me. He may have went the wrong way
temporarily with the choices he made, but he recognizes who
he worships; he recognizes God is his God and it is He that he
will praise. Psalm 95:2 tells us, “Let us come before his
presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him
with psalms.” And, this is what Jonah is doing.
He declared, “I will pay that that I have vowed” (compare
Psalm 50:14). Whatever promise he placed himself under to
fulfill, Jonah declared he will do it. Nothing will hold him back
from fulfilling his commitment to God. God is devoted to His
people and to fulfill the promises of His Word and His people
should feel an unshakeable obligation to do the same.
“Salvation is of the LORD” declares where Jonah and our
everlasting hope lies. This is where the gist of this lesson lies.
The God of the second chance (and often more) is the God of
our salvation. Any deliverance we experience is due to His
moving in our lives. God not only has the power to call forth
the storm and to make them quiet again; God has the power to
save (compare Psalm 3:8). Relying on anything or anybody else
is “vain” (Jeremiah 3:23). “He that is our God is the God of
salvation . . .” (Psalm 68:20).
Jonah 2:10 “And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited
out Jonah upon the dry land.”
Remember, God is the one who “prepared a great fish to
swallow up Jonah” (Jonah 1:17), and God is the one who
commands it here to “vomit out Jonah upon the dry land” as
well. Jonah experienced firsthand God’s power over creation.
Jonah knew God reigns, He rules, and He was in control of
everything. God was in charge the whole time.
This should be a comfort to many of us today when we feel like
the situation is just too hopeless or too far gone. In that, may
we find the same comfort Jonah did in the belly of the fish
when we realize our Sovereign God is still on His throne. “The
Lord sat enthroned at the Flood, And the Lord sits as King
forever,” (Psalm 29:10, NKJV). He still has His hand on the
situation. He is still in control.
Conclusion:
God is our great deliverer and the Lord of our salvation. Turn to
Him today.